Falsely Accused by Garda

fletch

Just looking for people's thoughts on this.

On Sunday morning, my friend and I were out driving. Realising we had forgotten our phones, we turned around. We were then pulled over by the Guards(3 in total) who were on the beat. They asked for my friends licence and insurance policy(both of which he produced). Then what the officer said shocked us, "You drove by me just there on your phone, you do realise that's an offence?". Well we nearly choked as there was no possible way my mate could have been on the phone as we had left both of them at home. We explained this to him, offered him to search the car however he didn't comment. He kept us waiting another 5 minutes while he ran checks on the car etc and then just told us to be on our way.

Anyway, my mate and I were very upset about what happened so I went down to the station and lodged a complaint against the Guard in question. The Sergeant on duty was very apologetic and we even heard him ring the Guard in question and give him a bollocking

What I can't stop wondering is, had we got a phone in the car, would it have simply been a case of the Guards word against ours?

The \/\/anderer

Could you use your 'recent calls list' to prove you weren't using the phone at that time?

edmund_f

Would have been entertaining though to let the idiot go through with the prosecution, quick call to your mobile provider to get the stats on where the phone was when you were 'driving' with it.

r3nu4l

A complaint to the Garda ombudsman might not go astray.

That kind of crap is what gives decent gardaí a bad name.

C_Breeze

Even if you had the phone in the car , theres nothing to say he would have actually gone through with a prosecution. Probably would have just given you a warning and thats the end.

Sounds like a fresh young guard who didnt have a clue and was just lookin for somethin to caution you on and polish their ego.

Much like the time when i Vrt'd my car on a Friday .. was stuck in traffic in stillorgan on saturday and a young guard on the beat walks up to me (i had my window down) and lectures me on why i dont have a Tax disc ... i showed him my vrt receipt and said I will pay it on monday and he starts showing off telling me he can take my car off me if he wasnt so nice :rolleyes: yeah yeah

seamus

The \/\/anderer wrote: »

Could you use your 'recent calls list' to prove you weren't using the phone at that time?

Probably.
Chances are the Garda saw him scratch his head or something and mistook it for being on the phone.
In court it would be your word against the Garda's so his word would probably need to be backup by a witness (i.e. you) and anything you can get from the phone - recent call lists, statements, etc.

fletch

r3nu4l wrote: »

A complaint to the Garda ombudsman might not go astray.

That kind of crap is what gives decent gardaí a bad name.

I had considered that but the Sergeant was very apologetic so I decided to leave it at that.

C_Breeze wrote: »

Even if you had the phone in the car , theres nothing to say he would have actually gone through with a prosecution. Probably would have just given you a warning and thats the end.

Yeh we still weren't sure as the officer hadn't told us whether or not he was going to press charges so we went down to the station for clarification. The Sergeant also told us that the officer should have told us before we left whether or not he was going to prosecute which he failed to do so, which he also got in trouble for

Eoin

The \/\/anderer wrote: »

Could you use your 'recent calls list' to prove you weren't using the phone at that time?

I don't know if you have to be actively making or taking a call to get done for this - otherwise you could be reading text messages etc with impunity.

Vegeta

you don't need to call anyone or text anyone, your operator could tell what area the phone was in

Also as someone has said maybe he thought you were on the phone and was mistaken (should have apologised himself if he was clearly wrong)

Cappo

The law states

The driver of a mechanically propelled vehicle that is in a public place, shall not hold or have on or about their person, a mobile phone or other similar apparatus while in the said vehicle, except when it is parked. :eek:

fletch

Cappo wrote: »

The law states

The driver of a mechanically propelled vehicle that is in a public place, shall not hold or have on or about their person, a mobile phone or other similar apparatus while in the said vehicle, except when it is parked. :eek:

:eek: So you can't even have it in your pocket??? Thankfully there was no mobile phone in the car in this instance.

badlyparkedmerc

That would mean there's probably hundreds of thousands of people breaking the law everyday- most males carry their phone in their pockets.

But the act Cappo quoted dates from 2002 - before points, the road traffic act of 2006 states

A person shall not while driving a mechanically propelled vehicle in a public place hold a mobile phone

The relevant section is a bit long to post but in http://www.daileireann.net/documents/bills28/acts/2006/A2306.pdf section three it doesn't state anywhere I could see that it's an offence to have the phone on your person. The penalty points web site is quite clear that the offence is holding the phone as well.

Whether the 2002 act has any relevance would be something for the legal experts.

daedalus2097

But it's crazy if you don't have it on your person... Where do I put it? Do I go and buy a manbag for it? Of course network records will help you when you've left the phone at home, but what about when you have the phone on you but weren't using it? You'll just have to hope that phone bills etc. help and you can convince the judge you weren't reading texts, playing Tetris or whatever.

L1011

I believe 93/2002 was repealed due to it preventing gardai using their old analogue radio system while driving, was it not? Seem to remember some hooha about that at the time.

Can't find for definite that it was, its not in the Repeals list of the road traffic act of 2006, when googling to see if it had been repealed I found a Dail debate where someone asked if having it in your pocket was covered!